Joint Custody
by Anemawl
Summary: When an orphaned baby goes up for grabs in EMShorts, purely by chance, more than one animal wants dibs. Nook, purely for advertisement purposes. Cute sells, right? And Sable because she's drawn to family. Solution? Joint custody. Tee-hee.


__Pete squinted, to no avail. The fog was unbearably thick tonight. As the wind grew stronger, the cradle strapped to his back suddenly felt ten times heavier. What if he couldn't manage to get the little lass to her 'parents' house on time? Or worse - what if he couldn't manage to get her there _at all_?

With the fear of failure hovering above his head, Pete easily became distracted with his pessimistic thoughts. Now, surely you can see how being distracted whilst flying through a dangerously foggy atmosphere would not have particularly happy outcomes. Surely you can.

"Pete, Petey-Pie, _Pete_! Are you there? _Do. You. Read. Me?_ Come on, Sweetie, answer! The weather is awful. Puhleaaaaaase tell me you can hear me! Peeeeeeeeeeete! Peeeete!" Phyliss' shrill voice echoed from the walkie-talkie that he'd recieved upon becoming the official delivery man of EMShorts. This only added to the poor bird's tension. His girlfriend was worrying about him.

"U-uh, yeah. I hear you, Phyliss." He wasn't sure if she could hear him, but it was worth a shot. Vaguely, he recalled Pelly, Phyliss' sister, trying to teach him how to work the dang thing. He never seemed to get the hang of it, besides, it wasn't like his wings weren't tied at the moment. When, or if he got home, Phyliss would understand. He hoped.

Her voice came back, decidedly less shrill, "Oh, Pete! You're okay! Have you dropped the brat off y-"

"Goo!" A cute, baby-ish voice cooed from the cradle.

Pete's teeth gritted, "Not yet, Phyl. Like you said, the weather's terrible."

"Oh, my poor baby!"

The baby giggled.

"Not you!" Phyliss snapped through the walkie-talkie. Her voice became sweet as she remembered the issue at hand, "Just drop _it_ anywhere. The dump, the ocean, a tree. Whatever. Just finish the stupid job and come back, all right?"

"I'm not drowning a baby."

"The dump," Phyliss suggested in a sing-song voice that was entirely inappropriate at the moment.

Pete rolled his eyes. Bad idea. He had to swerve to avoid flying straight into a storm cloud. "I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise."

"But it won't be soon enough," his girlfriend complained, "I've already missed my soap because I'm just overcome with worry."

Pete didn't mention the background noises of a TV that he heard. The last thing he needed was a beakfull of lip from an angry Phyliss. "That's sweet of you, Phyl, but seriously you _don't_ have to worry so much."

"Of course I do, you idiot!" Phyliss grumbled, "You're, like, risking your life. And not, like, in a romantic way. No! You're risking it for a dumb baby!"

A faint beep sounded and Pete glanced over his shoulder only to find that the pink haired baby was chewing on the walkie-talkie. He chuckled, "Ah. Maybe you're not so bad after all. You got my girlfriend to shut up. That's something."

"_Pete!_"

Overcome with surprise, Pete swirled downwards straight into the heart of the storm. "!"

"_PEEEEEEEEEEEETE_!" Phyliss' shrieked, but sounding genuinely worried, rather than reprimanding this time.

"GOOOO-GOO! GAGA!" The baby gurgled, loudly, her eyes widened in shock, and pink hair frazzled from the instant movement.

* * *

><p><strong>Sup dudes. <strong>

**Here's the DL. I expect the chapters to be longer than this one. Wayyy longer. This is merely a prologue, keep that in mind. Let's see, what else? AH, here's something that might surprise you (_Unattractive Snort_) I'm not the best at writing action sequences. Okay, okay. _I suck. _**Hence the cliffhanger. So if this prologue hasn't bored you to death, I might suggest you keep reading.****

****Constructive criticism is always welcome, that goes without saying. Oh yeah. And if I hadn't made it obvious, I'm _not_ Nintendo. Which means, Animal Crossing is not mine. Disclaimer fail, I know.  
><strong>**

****() () ()****

**** .(... ). _Anemawl._  
><strong>**


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